Tag Archives: Obamacare

Today, the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, Sue Birch, said in a press release, “Colorado continues to make progress in connecting citizens to the coverage they need.”

Want to know what else happened just three short days ago? This six-page apology letter was mailed to Connect for Health Colorado exchange partners signed by interim CEO Gary Drews and explaining that Connect for Health “had higher expectations than we’ve delivered”. The letter was actually one page of apology and five pages listing all the known issues with the approximately six-million-dollar IT system.

What about the hard-working Coloradans who have struggled through Obamacare turmoil? Nearly 5,000 Coloradans are unable to actually use the multi-million dollar healthcare exchange system that was supposed to make signing up for healthcare simple. Health News Colorado reports that Connect for Health Colorado plans to ask its board of directors for an additional $322,000 for February alone. After millions paid to build a streamlined system, that $322,000 is sure to solve all the problems, right?

Earlier last month, The Denver Post also pointed out the glaring failings of Obamacare’s Colorado manifestation. Stories of Coloradans sitting in 200-long live chat queues and a host of web malfunctions. At this rate, even an emergency boost in funding from the cash-strapped board isn’t likely to help citizens by the February 15 open enrollment deadline. Ms. Birch sounds a bit misinformed about the sad, ongoing reality of wasted money and failed healthcare options from Connect for Health Colorado.

“No private sector jobs? Let’s just put them on the government’s dole.”

The Headlines from The Denver Post and The Denver Business Journal blare “Colorado unemployment drops to lowest mark since March 2008,” and “Colorado jobs: Another sharp drop in unemployment,” respectively. But, looking beyond just the unemployment rate reveals another story. In reality (you know, that place where most of us live, and not every day is just another beer in a long line of them), Colorado’s net gain of just 300 jobs is only achieved because government added 2,400 to compensate for the private sector losing 2,100 jobs. As The Denver Business Journal writes:

A separate survey of Colorado employers showed a far more modest gain in payroll jobs last month of just 300, a fraction of the average monthly gain of 5,067 over the last 12 months. In fact, the October survey showed private-sector payroll jobs declining by 2,100 over the month, but government jobs increased by 2,400. [the Peak’s emphasis]

With job growth like this, who needs a recession?

We thought Gov. John Hickenlooper was supposed to be a man skilled at spurring the growth of businesses, not the growth of government. Then again, having to explain where 2,100 private sector jobs went when you claim you won re-election based on your work with the economy is a lot more unpleasant than just being a big-government liberal (“And you get a government job, and you get a government job, and you get a government job. Everybody gets a government job!”)

While this “job growth” may make for an easy number for Hickenlooper to repeat ad nauseam, it’s the sort of false positive that doesn’t translate to what Coloradans are really feeling in their homes. Adding to this “what growth?” feeling, the average hours worked per week by those employed continued to decline as well to 34.4 hours from 34.6 hours a year ago. Not that shocking seeing how Obamacare rewrote that a 30 hour work week was now considered “full time” and would require employers to provide costly insurance regardless of industry, situation, or other considerations.

Yes, by all means, let us celebrate the great economy Hickenlooper has brought to Colorado; where government grows even bigger, and the private sector that supports that bigger government through taxes shrinks.

PeakNation™, next time a dead-head liberal tries to claim Obamacare is the “free-market solution” just ask them this riddle: where else in the free market will you end up paying more when a good you use becomes cheaper? But that is exactly the new reality that happens in the world of Obamacare. As Ed Sealover at The Denver Business Journalwrites:

To illustrate that, Connect for Health officials noted that the average share of costs of plans that subsidized individuals bore themselves in 2014 was $161.79 per month.

If that individual were to keep their current plan for 2015, their average costs after financial assistance will be $287.01 a month — a bump of 77 percent of their contribution levels, Benshoof noted. [the Peak’s emphasis]

Which means, wait for it, wait for it:

In other words, if you like your plan you can keep it — if you’re willing to pay more. [the Peak’s emphasis]

Damn you Sealover, first you report on business news better than us, and now you’re showing you can be snarkier than us… #ThanksObama.

So, get this: First, Obamacare takes away the plan you liked despite President Obama and Sen. Mark Udall claiming it wouldn’t. Then, you find a plan through Obamacare that you might not like as much, but find it will suffice, only to be told a year later to keep that plan the premiums you pay will go up by 77%.

Obamacare: Where every year brings a new crappier health plan until we are all on Medicaid #ThanksObama.

And, it’s not like this is affecting only a small slice of the market. A full 60% of Obamacare enrollees receive subsidies for Obamacare.

While many will argue that this is all the result of one health insurance company trying to capture a larger portion of the market, we need only point to the disaster that very same strategy resulted in up in Minnesota. PreferredOne captured 60% of the Minnesota Obamacare market by offering some of the cheapest plans, only to realize that its position was unsustainable, forcing it to pull completely out of the Obamacare market in 2015. #ThanksObama #ThanksUdall

To recap: If you liked your plan in 2013, it got cancelled. If you like your plan in 2014, the price went up. At this rate, if you like your plan in 2015, expect Nancy Pelosi to stop by your house and personally waterboard you if you want to keep it in 2016.

With the announcement last week that another 200,000 Coloradans next year will join the 335,000 Coloradans who already lost their health plan because of Obamacare, Sen. Mark Udall can’t be happy there’s already more bad news for Obamacare in Colorado.

In an article by Investor’s Business Daily, Denver comes in at #4 for cities with the largest rate increase for Obamacare Bronze plans. At 26%, Denver trails only Seattle, Providence, and Los Angeles who have larger increases. While the increase would be bad in and of itself, the situation is compounded since the large rate increase comes on Bronze plans. With the Bronze plans being the cheapest option, they are the type of plan to attract those least likely to sign-up for Obamacare, and the most likely to drop their plans at the slightest inconvenience. Needless to say, a 26% is more than a little inconvenience. As the article states:

ObamaCare shoppers in search of the lowest-cost plan may come down with a mild case of rate shock when 2015 exchange enrollment begins next month.

…The surge in the cost of the cheapest subsidized bronze policy could negatively impact enrollment in 2015. This year, 39% of bronze plan choosers picked the lowest-price option. One might expect that share to rise in 2015, when millions of people who passed on ObamaCare exchanges this year are expected to enroll.

While some potential enrollees may opt out because of the higher cost of bronze, some young adults may instead pick catastrophic plans available to those under 30. The latter scenario is also not great news for ObamaCare exchanges, since catastrophic plan members are grouped separately, leaving the main risk pool relatively older and more costly. [the Peak’s emphasis]

Don’t worry PeakNation™, we’re sure Mark Udall will get right on this to make the necessary changes to tweak the law and make it work for the people. We mean, just look back over the last year and see all the changes Udall has help make to Obamacare especially in light of the problems we’ve encountered with it. In fact, let’s compile a list of all the changes to Obamacare that Udall has led.

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That’s Mark Udall hard at work for Colorado. Wethinks it may be time to send this work horse to the glue factory.

“Dammit, now I remember. I didn’t like Obamacare this whole time!” -John Hickenlooper

Eyebrows around the state were raised when Gov. John Hickenlooper made a very vocal declaration at the last gubernatorial debate that he never supported Obamacare. As he says in this video:

“Again, I’m no big fan of the ‘Affordable’ Care Act… WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT, HOLD ON, HOLD ON. Every Governor I’ve talked to, every governor would rather have that done each state by state and not have a roll-out with that much detail…” [the Peak‘s emphasis]

This is awkward Hick, apparently Politico didn’t get that memo, as they wrote just today:

“The sudden surge, however, comes at an inopportune time for Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, both of whom are fighting for their political lives and have been staunch defenders of the health law.”

Be careful there Hick, if you show Colorado you really do have a temper, you’re going to damage the “Hick” Brand™.

Now, while everyone in Colorado could easily believe this is another case of Hick not voicing his displeasure with Obamacare for the past four years because he didn’t want to piss off his overlords in Washington D.C., we believe, this might be more a case of Hick being tipped early of the news that broke today.

In a letter that wouldn’t exist without the insistence of state Senator Bill Cadman and his fellow Republicans, Colorado’s Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar informs us that nearly another 20,000 Coloradans had their health insurance cancelled last month. While, around another 192,000 plans are not Obamacare compliant and will be cancelled by the end of next year. This raises the total number of Coloradans who have had their health care plan canceled because of Obamacare to over 550,000.

This helps to explain Hickenlooper’s sudden about-face on Obamacare, especially since he hasn’t uttered a single peep of disagreement on it these past four years. Which, includes having no issue signing into law Colorado’s setup of it.

This also signals that Hick and his campaign view Sen. Mark Udall’s campaign as a lost cause now, having no problem jettisoning Udall to save himself. Then again, when it comes to tossing people under the bus, few people in Colorado politics do it as well as Hickenlooper— “We must protect the BRAND!”

As for Udall, we can add another 192,000 Coloradans in the near future to the already 375,000 he’s lied to when he said, “if you like your plan, you can keep it.” And, by “keep your plan,” he meant, LOL, No you can’t. But, no biggie, it’s not like his race is razor-thin close, and that it could possibly be decided by a few hundred votes. Surely canceling the healthcare plan for another 200k Coloradan couldn’t possibly decide this race.

And, this is the part where we LOL all the way to Election Day.

Wonder if more than half a million Coloradans wish right now they had a Governor who wasn’t afraid to stand up to Obama and DC, especially if he believes so strongly the laws they are passing will hurt Coloradans. We mean, if, like Hick claims, no Governors like Obamacare, this is important information for everyone to know. Why has he not spoke up about this sooner?

As you can see from the video, Hick choose to stay silent and protect his “brand” over sticking up for Coloradans. Coward.

Maybe it was the extra 800 or so feet in elevation in Colorado Springs that caused so many unforced errors in last night’s debate against Bob Beauprez. Or maybe it was the shock that Colorado Springs actually does have roads, flying in the face of his mentor Mike Bloomberg’s commentary on the Springs. Either way, Hickenlooper had a tough night at the debate sponsored by the Colorado Springs Gazette.

At times Hick seemed confused like when he tried to recover after Beauprez called him out for not having an agenda. Other times, he seemed angry like when he was frustrated that Beauprez was kicking his a$$. But, once again, Hick flip-flopped:

Obamacare: Before Hick threw Udall under the bus tonight by saying that no governor wanted Obamacare, there was this KDVR article from a previous debate: “Hickenlooper … defended the federal government’s management of some Colorado lands, his decision not to pressure the administration on the Keystone pipeline and he offered a full-throated defense of Obamacare.”

Climate Change: Before Hick attacked Beauprez for his views on climate change, he said this in 2010: …I’m not someone who thinks the sky is falling, when I say that, I get attacked by my environmental friends, but I do know that science is an imperfect thing, but I do know that science is an imperfect thing and it’s very hard to really prove that climate is changing as rapidly as so many top scientists think, or that it’s the result of mankind’s activities, I’m not going to get involved in that debate.

But, perhaps, the most devastating line of the night came from Beauprez, who jabbed Hickenlooper for reading his closing remarks: “John, you did really well reading that there. Now, let me speak from my heart.”

With President Obama’s plummeting approval numbers, it’s not surprising that Republicans are reminding voters that Udall voted with Obama 97% of the time since 2011 (it was 99% of the time last year). But, it is funny to have a compilation of Udall’s attempts to distance himself now – at the 11th hour – from the President. Enjoy before the tonight’s debate when Udall will again square off against Rep. Cory Gardner during which we will tweet for your enjoyment.

“Privacy watchdog? His record suggests otherwise. In 2011, as we reported, Udall pulled a very public 180 on privacy issues. In March 2011, he published a diatribe on Huffington Post talking about how he couldn’t support three tenets of the Patriot Act: roving wiretaps, business record access (aka the “215” orders) and so-called “lone wolf” wiretapping. Sure, sounds good, except that he voted for these three pieces in H.R. 514 just one month before. The funniest part of the whole thing? H.R. 514 only dealt with these three issues.”

Let’s be honest, the real reason that Mark Udall won’t talk Obamacare on the campaign trail is because it’s a disastrous issue for him. Period.

Here’s another great moment – when Udall says that he has no regrets on his votes over the last six years. Seriously? We have regrets about decisions we made last week. Not a single regret over the last six years? Udall voted with Obama nearly 100% of the time and he doesn’t have a single regret? Not a one? What about Keystone, which would help bring jobs and energy independence to the United States? Not even that?

“President Barack Obama isn’t the only one worried that trying to squeeze in comprehensive immigration reform right now could derail climate change legislation that has been in the works for nearly a year. U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado), who has been a major backer of trying to pass sweeping green energy legislation this cycle, said that the climate change bill should go first in the Senate’s busy calendar and that immigration should wait until later.”

Udall’s entire campaign has been marked by a “distract and deny” strategy, but don’t Coloradans deserve better?

Yesterday, Complete Colorado‘s Todd Shepherd asked a court to compel the Colorado Division of Insurance to explain why it will not release emails relating to the apparently-illegal move to renew health insurance policies not in compliance with Obamacare. To be clear, Shepherd is not suggesting that those plans should not be renewed, only that the Division of Insurance did not have the authority to unilaterally renew these plans, particularly as it was solely a political move meant to take the heat off of Sen. Mark Udall in a tough election year.

According to Shepherd’s complaint, the DOI used “deliberative privilege” to withhold the emails he requested. Deliberative privilege is when a governmental body is in the process of making a decision and does not want the revelation of this information to color the decision-making process. Of course, the issue here is that the decision had already been made. That’s why the emails were requested. So that doesn’t really apply here.

Conversely, postdecisional documents, communications made after the decision and designed to explain it, are not protected by the privilege. This distinction is supported by two considerations. First, the quality of a decision will not be affected by forced disclosure of communications occurring after the decision is finally reached. See Sears, 421 U.S. at 151, 95 S.Ct. 1504. Second, the public has a strong interest in the disclosure of reasons that do supply the basis for an agency policy actually adopted. See id. at 152, 95 S.Ct. 1504; Taxation with Representation Fund, 646 F.2d at 678. “These reasons, if expressed within the agency, constitute the ‘working law’ of the agency,” and as such should be disclosed to the public. Sears, 421 U.S. at 152, 95 S.Ct. 1504.8

This seems to be a pretty open and shut case, but the players in this issue have been so slimy, it will be interesting to see how the DOI tries to maneuver out of this one. And, further, just what is in those emails that’s so bad…?

Despite Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar’s best attempts to prevent more health care cancellation notices from piling up at the feet of Sen. Mark Udall, she wasn’t able to stop a further 2,000 from being added this month. The 335K figure everyone has been quoting will now be 340K+ figure since these 2,000 are joining another 3,000+ that have been lost since April. As Valerie Richardson at The Washington Times writes:

The state Division of Insurance said in a letter to the Colorado Senate Republicans that another 2,105 policies were discontinued in August in the aftermath of the Affordable Care Act, bringing the total to 341,666.

The growing tally has dogged the Democrat Udall in his bid for re-election. Republicans have blasted him for voting in favor of Obamacare and then repeating President Obama’s claim that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” which PolitiFact voted the 2013 Lie of the Year.

One would think having been caught telling the lie of the year would lead Udall to run a campaign that tried to overcompensate for such a fact. Not Udall. Rather, he made the radical decision to double down by running a campaign chalked full of lies and deceits. Any hope that he would reassure Coloradans that he wasn’t the liar of the year PolitFact called him in 2013, went out the window even before his first extremist ad. Udall has followed that first ad with more negative, cynical, and—dare we say—dour political ads with nary an apology to any of the now 340K+ Coloradans who have lost the very health care plans Udall promised they could keep. This doesn’t even begin to count the number of Coloradans who’ve lost their doctors because the one they have been seeing all these years is no longer covered by their insurance.

In such a tight race between Udall and Rep. Cory Gardner, a few hundred votes on Election Day could be the deciding factor. Udall can’t be sleeping easy knowing each day hundreds and hundreds of more Coloradans are getting cancellation notices in their mailboxes. Cancellation notices that he promised would never come. Adding them to the already 340K+ Coloradans makes a very large bloc of Colorado voters Udall directly lied to. They would be more than enough to be the death knell of Udall’s political career.

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